Brook Mueller Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Brook's 89 SporTruck 1989 Comanche Sportruck with 90,000 on the body Complete 97-01 Swap and 4x4 conversion. - engine, transmission, transfer case, dash, doors, fenders, grill from a 97 Cherokee 160,000 miles Rear 8.25 re-geared to 4.56 Front Dana 30 re-geared to 4.56 Advanced Adaptors SYE Rough Country Long Arm Kit RE 5.5 springs Rear SOA Conversion BDS Shocks Rear Disk Brake Conversion Hanson Rear Bumper JCR Front Bumper with LED fog light Kit New Exhaust and Cat (to meet the Idaho emissions requirements) Pro Comp 7069 Series wheels 16x 8 Toyo Open Country MT 285/75/16 Tires Rough Country track bar Rough Country Sway bar links H4 Headlight conversion with relay harness and 65/100w bulbs Installed a factory sliding rear glass Steering box brace New Steering Damper New Battery New Alternator New Radiator New Instrument Cluster New door gaskets Tail Gate cables New Turn signal switch New Carpet Sound deadening Hushmat And more to come... I still haven't finished the overhead console / trip computer.. so there is no dome light or visors either. also need fender flares soon, I am planning on Bushwackers but I'm not sure between flat ones and the traditional Bushwackers? also plan on getting a black soft-topper, I had one on my Ram and really liked it. Re-install the back glass as it leaks when it pours hard ..and get a front windshield gasket.. its super noisy on the freeway I need to fix the AC yet too Also it bugs me that the driver door mirror is not heated while the passenger side is.. the doors came from different jeeps.. so just a little thing but it'll get changed Future plan is to step up to 35" tires after the flares are on Get a new front bumper and winch and some sort of lockers, I left both diffs open as it was cheaper and I didn't really know what to get for a daily driver in the snow.. Rock Sliders Supercharger or Stroker This is my daily driver, to date I have put 19,670 miles on it since I started driving it 12 months ago, my wife and I are planning a 4000 mile trip down Baha in it in Spring So here is the beginning, I bought it with the 97 swap already cobbled together in November of 2015. My first Jeep! I was looking to get a Cherokee as a daily driver, but I have always liked trucks more, and I like projects. I didn't know what a Comanche was at that point because originally being from WI where the roads get salted there just simply are none left. When I saw this listed on craigslist as a 89/97 Cherokee Sportruck I was really intrigued. I met the guy a couple days later and bought it without driving it. It was running but not drive-able.. I limped it home across Boise at 15 miles per hour because of the worst death wobble ever imaginable. It needed a complete suspension rebuild, as well as re-gearing, (front was different than the back and neither were appropriate gears for the totally shot 35s on it), a new alternator, a couple gas leaks fixed, new radiator, the dash cluster fixed, as well as most of the steering wheel and column switches (cruise, turn signal etc..) .... the list goes on and on. It was multiple colors, as was the interior.. one door panel was grey, and the other black, it was full of trash as the owner had lived in it briefly. I ended up finishing it over the course of 6 months, after the first month in the garage, and at the point it became road worthy it became my daily driver and I sold my 11 Ram sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansashogan Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Welcome aboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Thanks! i am new to this and having a terrible time getting pictures on here>>> sorry. I think i have tried almost everything imaginable...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 figured out the pictures:) I hope these are posting, here is a few more of the beginning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunnc1991 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Are you using a picture hosting site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 First weekend driving it.. I decided I would spray paint the hood and grill so I sanded all the loose pealing old paint off, I'm a newbe at bodywork at this point. It stayed like this for 3 months actually without getting much done to it except for the maintenance it needed to keep driving. To get it to this point I worked on it for a month, First thing I got was the new 16" alloy rims and Toyo tires.. they are close to a 33 x 11.5 ( ill check the size again later) I went through tons of clearance issues with the suspension arms, I ended up putting Rough Country long arms on it, with RE 5.5 springs in the front. I welded new spring mounts on the back axle as the previous ones had been done to wide. In the process of grinding the old ones off the fuel pump lit on fire due to sparks.. so luckily the truck was spared from the flames and it also got a new fuel pump. (my tank and pump is from a 98 Dakota to have the correct matching ohms for the 97 instrument cluster). The gas gauge still didn't work at this point which would take a ton of trouble shooting latter on.. and an eventual new Dorman re manufactured cluster to the tune of $600 Ouch! I payed a local shop to re-gear both axles the Dana 35 front and 8.25 to 4.56. I hoped in and drove it to Portland the day after I got it on the road with the new gears... It pulled terribly and the first modification it got when I got back to Boise was a steering box brace. It ran good for the total of 900 mile trip until I was about 3 miles from home coming back into Boise and the alternator died. I bought a new battery that night to get it home. It took me about 3 weeks to figure out it was the alternator, I took it and had it bench tested twice and it tested good both times.. but the thing was intermittent and I got stuck one more time in the boonies a couple weeks later when it quit charging again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 I eventually changed all the interior parts to black, took out the seats and shampooed them several times, put in new carpet and floor mats, and changed the switches in the driver door to a 2 door model from parts I bought on ebay. (no need for rear window switches on a 2 door) I also fixed loads of wiring issues with the old harness under the floor, and shortened the parking brake cable so it didn't have a big loop in it. I wish I had pictures of all of it, but here is the couple I found before and after. I also used hushmat on the whole cab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggilez Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 the prev picture with the two tone makes the inside look like the one in my dakota. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Disk brake conversion done, new shock mounts, new ubolts and plates over the rear springs, and an extra short leaf I cut and put in cause the back was squatting a little. Before putting it back together I also ran new rear brake lines and a rear proportioning valve and stainless line to the axle. Also new exhaust and cat is visible that I had put on a couple months earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Paint job work, I did the whole job in 4 weeks. Did all the body work and primer in my garage then took it to the shop my buddy works at to have it painted in the booth, single stage Comando Green with Limco Supreme paint. Its relatively cheap paint, the whole job cost me about 1500 mostly sandpaper and primer. I welded up several holes in the side of the bed and tailgate, removed the metal tailgate linkages and put some newer style cables on it as well. I did the hood, grill, tailgate, bed and fenders first. Then did the cab and doors separate... not enough room to work on it all at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 back in the yard we used a raptor kit bed liner tinted the same Commando Green Bed back on the frame and bed liner done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Final Assembly; I put the whole thing back together and worked the bugs out in three days and took it on a 1700 mile road trip to Wisconsin.. I only live in Idaho in winter so I was in a real crunch for time to get back to WI. I actually went a week over as I only had 3 weeks for the paint when I started, I was supposed to leave for WI the 16th of April but didn't end up ready to go till the 22nd. . Pics of the Hanson rear Bumper and JCR front... I really really really wish I had got one I could mount a winch too.. duh this is my first jeep :( now I need a new bumper.. Loaded up and heading through Wyoming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relyt120 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Awesome truck! I like that you put the stripes back on. Do you plan to put on fender flares or do you prefer it without any? I usually don't like the look with no flares but yours pulls it off really nicely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Thanks! I am planning to put some flares on it. I work in Canada in summer and up there you are supposed to have mud flaps too.. so for the sake of hopefully not getting pulled over I am going to add some flares. I actually have gotten a lot of rock chips already too. I had fit the original Comanche ones on to the new style front fenders before I painted it, but then I used a black rhino bed liner spray on them and they bubbled really bad even with plastic adhesion promoter and the proper prep work.. I had to throw them out:( plus they looked so glossy they just looked terrible. So I am trying to decide now between more originals from the junk yard, or bushwackers, or flat bushwackers.. what do you think? I am kind of leaning toward the flat ones as I don't see a ton on Comanches with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody4359 Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Looks good, I think some oem black flares would add a little contrast to it. One of these days I'll have to paint mine Edit: is that a oem or aftermarket rear window? That strip on top looks different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooTall Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Super! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 Thanks! sorry to never answer the question about the rear window MJ Junckie, I couldn't get logged in for the last 4 months.. just figured it out this morning. Yes it is a stock MJ sliding rear window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody4359 Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 Any updates or new pics? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Its taken me for ever to get around to getting back on here, but here is the most recent update; the big change is the Napier Precision Products fender flares! which really look good on the truck. I have been driving it for 2 years now as my daily driver with no intention of stopping! Life got busy, I got married, I move several times a year for work, so other than the flares nothing much has happened with it aside from putting 32,000 miles on it. . I finally have some time this week and the goal is to try to finally finish the overhead console /computer and visors, get a new windshield, and side mirrors on (one is not heated, while the other is pitted and rusting badly on the mirror surface), as well as update the steering box to a high ratio box from a ZJ. After 6 1800+ mile road trips I am getting tired of the steering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook Mueller Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newton Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 good looking truck bro :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88whitemanche Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Great looking truck! What makes you tired of the steering? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddout Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Nice work, man. Nice paint work too. Great color choice! Lift looks perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grinch Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Nice work, beautiful truck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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