EnlistedManche Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Hey there everyone, Been stalking this forum for awhile now and never introduced myself. So here we go, haha I'm Adam I've owned 4 Cherokees with minor builds little lifts here and there, nothing crazy, I enlisted in 2013 to the marine corp, got stationed in North Carolina and finally found a Comanche worth buying, its a 91 pioneer had 108k miles when i bought it and I'm up to 114k now. The plan is to build this while I'm active duty, then beat the living hell out of it when I EAS in early 2017, As it sits now I've done some minor work, 4 1/2 Zone Off-road lift SUA currently spare tire mount in place of missing tailgate. Just put bucket seats in last weekend, custom winch bumper that will be getting rid of soon, Bushwacker flat flares, SYE yada yada yada, For the fun stuff, Upcoming projects, currently sitting on 8.8 out of a late 90s explorer limited slip 4.10s will be doing the truss kit from iron rock offroad and changing the rear to Spring Over and leaving my 1 1/2 shackles to put me near 6 inches in the rear. 6 1/2 inch coils from BDS suspension, I'm in the market for dana 30 HP or dana 44 front which ever comes my way first, i don't have anything against build a 30 but recommendations are always appreciated. Also going to upgrade to long arms in this process, was also going to go with Iron Rock Off-road, BUT i would love to hear if anyone else has a suggestions. OTK 1 ton steering, and more I'm forgetting.. Next weekends plans are to repair the drivers side floor panel, I can post my progress on that if anyone would like, but i hate to beat a dead horse. Anyway stay tuned for the next two years as i build this Comanche to finally show up my old man on the trails! Loads of pictures to come.. I'm using photo bucket, with the direct link but i keep getting an error message "you are not allowed to use that image extension on this community. If someone would let me know what I'm doing wrong I can share my photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepsOLot Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Nice truck!! Thank you for your service! That's one mean stinger on that bumper! Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88whitemanche Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Wow she's a beaut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Nice truck!! Thank you for your service! That's one mean stinger on that bumper! Jerry Yeah its bit much.. that's why i plan on ditching it, picked it up for 50 bucks so it would have been silly not to get it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91Pioneer Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 The bar looks ridiculous but nice truck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Nice truck!! Thank you for your service! That's one mean stinger on that bumper! Jerry Yeah its bit much.. that's why i plan on ditching it, picked it up for 50 bucks so it would have been silly not to get it! Flawed logic? :dunno: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 Nice truck!! Thank you for your service! That's one mean stinger on that bumper! Jerry Yeah its bit much.. that's why i plan on ditching it, picked it up for 50 bucks so it would have been silly not to get it! Flawed logic? :dunno: haaha you're probably right :doh: i try not to think about it too much. The stock front bumper was claimed by salt, so this was a cheap alternative for the time being. Shes already got a new home lined up i just need to figure out what bumper i want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87shortbed comanche Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 clayton has some good long arms. nice looking mj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 My buddy texted me a picture of your truck a few weeks ago. It was sitting by the gas pumps in the PX parking lot. The first this I said is the bumper sucks but the truck is super nice. I would just chop the stinger off and keep the bumper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 13, 2015 Author Share Posted September 13, 2015 Honestly the welds on the tubing are so bad all i'd have to do is hang on the stinger and it would come off :rotfl2: Not to worry as planned the bumpers been sold and i managed to make some money off of it. Cut my stock bumper just after the brackets and made a little stubby bumper, just for the time being. I will spend my Sunday arguing with myself over which bumper i want and hopefully get one ordered tonight! Any suggestions? Only requirements are low profile and winch capable. Been eye balling JCR but i really don't want to spend 800 on a bumper.. decisions decisions.. :hmm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 JCR DIY winch bumpers are a great deal. Dirt Bound also has DIY bumpers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 13, 2015 Author Share Posted September 13, 2015 JCR DIY winch bumpers are a great deal. Dirt Bound also has DIY bumpers. Unfortunately I have no welding experience nor a place to weld. I feel like the cost for someone to weld it for me would end up being more than the cost of buying one already built. Hoping to take welding classes in the near future. Cab Update: So as I said before the drivers floor pan needs some serious attention.. here's the interior how i purchased it, Not the greatest photo but this is all i have from about 6 months ago.. :dunno: I was able to see some insulation hanging out from the drivers side at first it didn't look all that bad figured a patch would be able to fix so i finally got around to pulling out the bench seat and carpet, what i discovered was much worse than i had expected. As you can clearly see there's almost no driver side floor panel, lucky for me the passenger side only had slight surface rust and was salvageable.. Ground down to bare metal and took off most of the paint from the passenger side, and cover the surface with rustoleum heavy rust paint, I think it will hold up fine after getting the surface rust off the floor pan looked solid, I had always wanted to put bucket seats in my comanche so i figured what better time then now. I picked up 2 seats out of a 90 2 door cherokee with the straight rails for 40 buckets. They were not the prettiest things in the world with some cleaning they turned out pretty good. The one the left was how i picked it up and the one on the right was after scrubbing it 3 times. I used 2 parts oxyclean laundry detergent/ oxy clean stain remover and 1 part extremly hot water, applied a healthy amount of the mixture to the seats and used your every day scrub brush and light scrubbed the seat for about 5 minutes each time. After each scrub i sucked up as much water as could with a shop vac. I was pleasantly surprised with how the clean up. After getting them as clean i could i swapped the frames from the bench seats to the bucket seats and installed. There were more than enough write ups to help me with this process. I sprayed my passenger floor pan and installed the seats. Still waiting on my drivers side floor pan to come in, for now the plan is to obviously have near the whole thing replaced and Spray Lizard skin sound dampening and the Ceramic spray to lower the temperature. As of right now my cap gets unbelievable hot with no insulation. Will post more project pictures as the floor pan comes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 There are plenty of Marines on base that can weld. Go find MTM and locate the weld shop. I can put you in touch with a CWO buddy of mine that can assist you as well. I am a Marine also. I know for a fact that you can find a Marine with a welder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 24, 2015 Author Share Posted September 24, 2015 Progress the new floor pan is in! turned out alright, didn't get the top part of the frame rail in. I'm okay with the way it sits now, these had terrible crash test ratings anyway i seriously doubt the 6 inchs will be a game changer in the worst case scenario. Looking back i wish i would have saved the drain plug that was there. If anyone know where i can get one besides a pick and pull (last resort) i would appreciate some advice, I already checked my local auto parts stores for a specific or a general fit and didn't have any luck. I did manage to pick myself up another project :) I had been looking for one for awhile and i found this so i didnt pass it up. Its pretty beat up though did a little bondo work on it and i'm just not like how its turning out so i think i'm going to turn this into a bench while i have free time. Plus the spare tire mount is growing on me.. unfortunately i don't think it will hold anything bigger that a 33' before it hits the bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted September 24, 2015 Author Share Posted September 24, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 BOOM interiors done...almost :rotfl2: , didnt turn out perfectly i still have a little touching up to do but I'm glad I'm done with the majority of it! After painting the entire floor pans with rust repellent paint and going over the top with hurculiner i started to lay my insulation! I decided to go with the Frost King stuff that i picked up from lowes Each roll was 1ft X 15ft and i ended up using 4 rolls. I went over everywhere on the floor panel 2 times cross laying it and the went ahead and did the back of the Cab as well. For the most part it went in fairly well. This stuff is super easy to form around, unfortunately the adhesive backing to it wasn't sticky at all. I went back to lowes and bought some super 77 and applied a light coat to the adhesive side before I laid the sheets end they stuck great. I ended up ordering my Carpet through Stock Interiors it came surprisingly fast i ordered on a Saturday night and had it by Wednesday. I was fairly disappointed with how it all lined up when i first place the carpet in. The preset molding is really not all that close. But with some patience a heat gun and a lot of banging i got it to lay much closer than how it came to me. I had a lot of trouble getting the old Bolts out the held the seat belts for the bench seat. I ended up stripping both of the torques head bolts. :doh: after a lot of frustration i took an angle grinder to the sides of the bolts got underneath the jeep with a torch, heated up the nut and got a Big Ol Crescent wrench and was able to get both of them out with ease luckly i saved the bolts from the XJ seat belt mounts as well the plugs for the seatbelt alarm matched just fine. Gave the seats frames a quick touch of paint and put them back in. Now that I have the interior at a somewhat decent state I can move back on to performance, Currently sitting on OTK steering ans a double sheer trackbar, hope to have them in the jeep Next weekend. Just now ordered the rear Bushwacker XJ Flat flares. I have heard that they don't match up that well, so that should be interesting.. :rotf: Upcoming when funds are available will be a SYE and long arm kit. Stay Tuned! :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 I forgot to mention, The frost king plus the carpet makes a world of difference in sound as well as temperature.. I honestly can't say which one was the biggest improvement because i never drove it with just the frost king, but i can hardly hear anything from the outside world. And its much easier to control the inside temp, which will come in handy this winter! :thumbsup: but regardless i can definitely say i would recommend the frost king to anyone looking to do the interior on a budget. I spend 15 bucks a roll so 60 on the insulation. :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Okay the comanche is at a turning point, I sold the cherokee i have had sitting at home finally. So I'm now able to get to the stuff i couldn't before. Id like everyone whos willing opinion. I have already ordered Iron Rock offroad OTK steering and DS track bar, I had that setup on the XJ and loved it so i bought it again for the comanche. Now with the rest of the money I will be doing long arms, front bumper, and getting started on the 8.8. I'm completely undecided on the front bumper, Needs to be winch capable and that about my only requirement. Ive been seriously looking at the JCR vanguard winch bumper but ive heard some not so good things about there products. As well as the Iron Rock offroad long arms. Again i don't know any who has run them ive heard mixed results on them. I loved the steering so i imagine their long arms would be of similar quality. With that being said i am also consider BDS. I'm all ears to your opinions recommendations and views even if it wasnt something i Mentioned. Thanks in advance everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcticMJ Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Okay the comanche is at a turning point, I sold the cherokee i have had sitting at home finally. So I'm now able to get to the stuff i couldn't before. Id like everyone whos willing opinion. I have already ordered Iron Rock offroad OTK steering and DS track bar, I had that setup on the XJ and loved it so i bought it again for the comanche. Now with the rest of the money I will be doing long arms, front bumper, and getting started on the 8.8. I'm completely undecided on the front bumper, Needs to be winch capable and that about my only requirement. Ive been seriously looking at the JCR vanguard winch bumper but ive heard some not so good things about there products. As well as the Iron Rock offroad long arms. Again i don't know any who has run them ive heard mixed results on them. I loved the steering so i imagine their long arms would be of similar quality. With that being said i am also consider BDS. I'm all ears to your opinions recommendations and views even if it wasnt something i Mentioned. Thanks in advance everyone. For me its an easy choice, BDS over iron rock. Its hard to beat the handling of a 4 link over radius arms. With the BDS kit i would ditch the single shear pan hard that comes with it and build your own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted January 18, 2016 Author Share Posted January 18, 2016 Hello everyone, Its been awhile since i posted but a lot had happened I have turned to having the Manche be my "Mall Crawler" Daily Driver, i will explain a little further down why. This doesn't mean i'll stop building her. Shes still got a long way to go. Most recent upgrades, ARES fab front winch bumper, IRO OTK steering, and Double Sheer Track Bar, Drop Pitman Arm, IRO Long Arms and Cross Member, 6-8 Inch Steel Braided Brake Lines, Updated all of my brakes and SOLID Diff cover. Also got my Cobra 75 WX ST installed. I'd Like to apologize in advance i didnt take pictures through these processes. I've Been Super Busy and just haven't had the time to get the work done and do write ups. But thankfully, most of this has all been posted tons of times by other users. So i have some general pictures of the work. All taken at different times through all those upgrades. the last picture will be as she sits now. Okay so why did i decide to make this a mall crawler? well since i got my very first cherokee the comanche had always been my dream truck, Ive spent too much time and money into making this thing pretty just to beat it up and ruin all the cosmetics i've put into it. Yes i will take it light wheeling but don't expect to see me bouncing off any rocks. So still to satisfy my urges i purchased another toy, at an amazing price i may add. Its a 1989 Jeep Cherokee Laredo at 180,00. I was going through it and did my best to put together a thorough parts list--- ARB Cherokee Winch Bumper, Clear Turn Signals, Rusty's XJ tie rod, Rusty's XJ Drag Link, Rusty's OTK AdjustableTrack Bar & Frame Mount, JKS Quick Disconnects, Bilstein Shocks Front & Rear, Rusty's 8 inch Long Arm Lift, Bushwacker Flat Flares, Affordable off-road rear bumper, Jeep XJ Trailer Hitch, Wagoneer Dana 44, Dana 30 non disco, 4 X kicker 6' speaker, Pioneer Deck, LED Rock Lights, Cobra CB & 4ft Fire Stick, X5 35x11.5x15 BFG KM2 90% tread left, X5 Black Rock steel wheels, Tomken Machine Gas Tank Skid Plate, Tera Flex Slip Yoke Elminator, Adams XJ Rear 1310 Rock Crawler CV Driveshaft, Rancho RS5401. Someone spend alot of time and money on this Rig and i managed to get it for just over $2,000. Haven't had to put much work into it at all. in about 3 Months all I've done is clean it up, replace the Starter and Rhino Line the interior of the jeep. So that pretty much sums up what I've been doing. I have 6.5 inch coils for the comanche, and a HD SYE, working on an getting an 8.8 w/ 4.10LS so i can do the SOA at the same time as the front coils SYE hope to have that done by the beginning of march. will post progress of the 8.8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnlistedManche Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 little update not a whole lot has happened since i last posted been busy with work and what not but recently rebuilt a dana 30 hp no disco had a buddy weld up an artec truss and threw her in there. I have ordered all my parts for the 8.8 i went with iron rock offroads 8.8 swap kit and hope to have that all in and ready in the next couple of months for a weekend wheeling trip. Other than that i have 6.5 inch coils and some shackles on the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComancheKid45 Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Good stuff! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody4359 Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I really like that bumper, truck looks great and thanks for your service. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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