Phoenix Project

[R1.]

Almost a year ago I started looking for a Comanche.  I joined this forum to get some pointers and scanned Craigslist and other ads across the west.  What I was finding was rusted hulks that would take the a crane to get them out of the grave.  A month ago I found it just 750 miles away in Phoenix AZ.  A buddy of mine there checked it out and confirmed it was "road worthy" (a loose term when you are going to put a temp tag on it)

 

I got time off from work and flew down with my wife and daughter to pick it up last week.  We have friends and relatives there so we visited and went to a couple of KC Royals spring training games.  (We are KC transplants)

 

After rewiring the taillights and getting the tach to work we headed out, using a phone ap for a speedometer.  The truck ran so well we decided to do some side trips on the way back.  600 miles of side trips.

 

 

 

[R1.]

Here is the short list of what needs to be done:

• Rear Axle spring perch
• Rear Axle shock mount
• Transfer case linkage
• Front driveshaft
• Transfer case spacer (maybe)
• Speedo Cable
• Emergency brake cable
• Fix leak around gas tank sending unit
• Tailgate won't open
• AC doesn't work, probably will delete
• Dash gauges don't work
• Headliner
• Windows rattle but barely roll
• Light bar not mounted right

That's just the stuff I see now.

 

[Jtrux]

What are the specs on it?

 

Love the story, btw.

[DesertRat1991]

Nice find. What's the story behind the pool noodle..??

[R1.]

Nice find. What's the story behind the pool noodle..??

I was wondering when someone would ask that.  The light bar does not match up with the bracket well, and at highway speeds it was louder than a jet.  I got the idea to tape the pool noodle to it to maybe keep down the noise.  It worked.

[R1.]

What are the specs on it?

 

Love the story, btw.

 

I am new to this so there is a lot I don't know but here is what I know or have been told so far:

 

It is an 1989 Pioneer that started life as a 2wd.  

It appears the running gear is out of a cherokee, but I don't know the year.  

It has the 4.0 in it with a 5 speed.  

The diff covers have BTF on them and I was told they are Aussie lockers.  

I was told the front axle is trussed 30 with 4.88 gearing and the rear axle is 8.25 with 4.88 gearing.

Those are Goodyear MTR Kevlar 35x12.5x15 on it with a lot of tread left.

 

Here is a picture of the front end:

[wheelsaz08]

good looking truck! i almost bought this one a few owners ago.

 

BTF on the covers would be blue torch fab

[R1.]

good looking truck! i almost bought this one a few owners ago.

 

BTF on the covers would be blue torch fab

It does have that "been passed around" look to it.  I just picked up a 86 manual 4x4 4cly long bed for a parts truck to fill in the missing parts.  The parts the 86 is missing are parts I don't need for the 89, yet.

 

[R1.]

I had a thread in the Pub on this here is the link http://comancheclub.com/topic/52974-ethical-conundrum/

 

All that being said it's been well worth it to have these trucks nose to nose at my place.  I will take a few parts off of it but it's mostly moral support.  Even though 86 is a stand alone year there are a lot of similarities that have been a great help.

 

A few of those are:

• How does the speedo cable run?
• How does the emergency cable thread through?
• how does the transfer case linkage hook up?.  

This weekend I will get more pictures up of both trucks 

[DirtyComanche]

In my build thread I have pictures of making my own transfer case linkage with parts that could be sourced from any decent hardware store.  I would recommend doing that over making the stock linkage work, as it is a terribly flawed design.

 

Do you have a speedo cable for it right now?  Not sure what you want to know about how it hooks up, but if you have all '89 parts (which you probably don't) it will thread into the tailhousing of the tcase, then it runs up the inside of the driver's framerail, then up the firewall and through it to the back of the cluster where it connects with a quick connect type fitting (pushes on, pull the collar back to release).  Most likely you have a newer tcase and it does not have the correct drive setup in it for a cable drive speedo, clean off the round tag on the back of tcase to find what year it is and snap some pictures of it.

[R1.]

In my build thread I have pictures of making my own transfer case linkage with parts that could be sourced from any decent hardware store.  I would recommend doing that over making the stock linkage work, as it is a terribly flawed design.

 

Do you have a speedo cable for it right now?  Not sure what you want to know about how it hooks up, but if you have all '89 parts (which you probably don't) it will thread into the tailhousing of the tcase, then it runs up the inside of the driver's framerail, then up the firewall and through it to the back of the cluster where it connects with a quick connect type fitting (pushes on, pull the collar back to release).  Most likely you have a newer tcase and it does not have the correct drive setup in it for a cable drive speedo, clean off the round tag on the back of tcase to find what year it is and snap some pictures of it.

 

I have the speedo cable from the 86 but it has a np207 and the 89 is an np231j.  I was going to fish it out of the 86 to see if it will work.  I'm going to check your build out, I think my tcase linkage is hosed.

[DirtyComanche]

That cable might be the same, it's listed as such but I believe 84-86 is not the same as 87-90.

 

Or you could just buy a new one for $20, which I can guarantee you fits and is plenty long.

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2950014&cc=1179929&jsn=377

[R1.]

Somewhere with a previous owner my MJ was converted from a 2.5, 2 wheel drive to 4.0, 4 wheel drive.  

 

I am searching for a front driveshaft for it.  

 

Is there anyway for me to tell the year of my driveline?  

 

From what I have seen it uses the 1310 series u joints but some of the front driveshafts I've seen with 1310 don't match on the interchange.

[DirtyComanche]

For a front driveshaft any 4L/Ax-15/NP231 XJ one should work, but they might be a little different if you go with one that's too new (should still bolt up).  Ultimately I use a tape measure to confirm.

[R1.]

For a front driveshaft any 4L/Ax-15/NP231 XJ one should work, but they might be a little different if you go with one that's too new (should still bolt up). Ultimately I use a tape measure to confirm.

The stock measurement is 27 1/8" the measurement on the 89 is 30 3/4" that's a difference of 3 5/8".

 

 

 

 

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[Comacho]

Have you found the front driveshaft for it?