Vakarian's Comanche 'Trailbreaker'

[Vakarian]

5 hours ago, jbain said:

Nice looking Machine. I'm building an Overlanding rig with plans to sleep in the back, so keep us posted.

 

Will do jbain! Also, let me know when you start a build tread so I can follow your process and get ideas from you work.

 

[jbain]

Already started, check out Project Plain Jane when you get a chance

 

[Vakarian]

So the rear axle has been found! Someone on Craig's List was selling a Dana 44 for $150 dollars with a locker! So I jumped on that right away. The only issue with it was the seller had started to do some work on it and removed the brake drums. So the axle is complete minus those. Debating on putting drums on or just going forward with a rear disk swap now. Going to start working on clean up the axle and getting it geared for the new ratio. Still debating between 4.10 or 4.56 for the rig. I don't plan to go larger on tires then the 32's because I like the narrow ones I have right now. Unless there are larger narrow tires I plan to stay where I am in size. Below is a picture of the axle I picked up.

 

[HOrnbrod]

What vehicle is the axle from and what gears are in it now?

[Vakarian]

The seller said it was out of a Cherokee and thought it had 3.73 gears. Want to count to make sure as I could not find any numbers inside on the gears themselves. Needs a good cleaning on the inside it looks like. Here is a picture of the inside which I believe the cylinder in the center is a locker he was referring to. Still trying to figure out what the various locker types look like.

 

As for counting the gears, just making sure I do it right, I count the large gear teeth in the picture and divide by the tooth count for the gear attached to the yoke. The gear attached to the yoke is the pinion correct? I always get them wrong.

 

[HOrnbrod]

Looks like it has the limited slip carrier. Count the teeth on the ring gear, then divide by the number of teeth on the pinion gear to get the ratio. Should be 41 : 11 if it's a 3.73. If you change the ratio to 4.10 and up, you will need a new carrier, or you can use a "thick" set of R&P gears and keep your existing limited slip carrier. That's what I did when I went from 3.55 to 4.10.

[Skorpyo]

The seller said it was out of a Cherokee and thought it had 3.73 gears. Want to count to make sure as I could not find any numbers inside on the gears themselves. Needs a good cleaning on the inside it looks like. Here is a picture of the inside which I believe the cylinder in the center is a locker he was referring to. Still trying to figure out what the various locker types look like.
 
As for counting the gears, just making sure I do it right, I count the large gear teeth in the picture and divide by the tooth count for the gear attached to the yoke. The gear attached to the yoke is the pinion correct? I always get them wrong.
 

Easiest way is to mark the pinion flange with chalk against the housing and turn an axle and could how many revolutions the yoke makes on a full turn. 3.5 is 3.55 gears you get the idea.

[Vakarian]

HOrnbord, thank you for the image showing the difference between an open and limited slip carrier. Would I be able to do the same as you stated for 4.56 gears as you mentioned like you did for the 4.10s? Still deciding on gears but want to check all possibilities.

 

Skorpyo, thank you for the suggestion as well for checking the ratio!

 

I checked the tag and counted the gears. The tag said 3.55 followed by a space and 46 13. Took some chalk and got to counting. I got 46 and 13 for the two gears which match the tag and calculated to a ratio of 3.536. So it looks like its not much better of a ratio then my current 3.07 ratio, but a stronger axle.

 

Any suggestions on how to clear the inside of the housing to remove some of the rust shown in the pictures would be immensely helpful!

 

[HOrnbrod]

9 minutes ago, Vakarian said:

HOrnbord, thank you for the image showing the difference between an open and limited slip carrier. Would I be able to do the same as you stated for 4.56 gears as you mentioned like you did for the 4.10s?

 

Yes, thick 4.56 gear sets are available for the D44.

 

https://www.yukongear.com/productdetails.aspx?ProdID=12090

[Vakarian]

Awesome! I appreciate the link! Now to decide on the actual gearing for the rig, but this helps to know that I could keep the limited slip.

[Skorpyo]

Awesome! I appreciate the link! Now to decide on the actual gearing for the rig, but this helps to know that I could keep the limited slip.

Yep, I ran my 44 in my XJ with the factory slip for years before it gave out and I upgraded to a Detroit. With 4.56 gears.

[Vakarian]

Thank you Skorpyo for your experience regarding the factory limited slip!

[Vakarian]

So I wasn't able to get much done today before it got dark after doing so work on my girlfriends Cherokee but I had to get something done on my Comanche.

 

One of my front turn signal / marker light directly under the driving light went out so I replaced them both with new LED lights from HOrnbrod's list. Thank you immensely for the list HOrnbrod!

 

After doing so those turn signals were nice and bright, but white. Couldn't see the fact that they were blinking.

 

Found some amber lights to fix the problem. Not spectacular, but I like the new amber covers and did at least something to my truck.

 

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

[Vakarian]

It has been a while since I posted but work has been getting done slowly. The axle is currently on hold as I wait for the axle shafts to come in so I started tearing into an AX-15 transmission to swap in. Since this is my first time rebuilding a a transmission I have been talking it slow. Note to self, make sure its in neutral! Makes it easier to take a part.

 

 

 

Additionally, after some reading on ComancheClub and other forums, it seems you can change out some gears to getting better ratio using an R151. So if this works out I will detail what all was done. Just need to get the external slave cylinder then I should have all the parts I need to complete this swap.

 

Besides working on the transmission, a buddy of mine recommend a some guys to make me a front bumper. Below is the rough sketch for it currently. Going to get a brush guard for my Comanche because I have almost hit like 8 deer so far this year on my way to work. Hopefully I can keep this motivation going and have more updates to show.

 

[coolwind57]

19 hours ago, Vakarian said:

Going to get a brush guard for my Comanche because I have almost hit like 8 deer so far this year on my way to work.

 

Good Lord, man!  Sounds like the 15-mile stretch my brother travels every morning.  There's been people killed by hitting deer on his road.  Sounds like you need to mount on of these, haha:

 

 

 

[Vakarian]

20 hours ago, coolwind57 said:

 

Good Lord, man!  Sounds like the 15-mile stretch my brother travels every morning.  There's been people killed by hitting deer on his road.  Sounds like you need to mount on of these, haha:

 

 

 

 

Coolwind57, I started dying laughing when I saw this! If it gets any worse will have to figure out how to mount a rotary version.

[Vakarian]

Over the pass few weekends I have been able to get some more work done. The new R151 counter shaft for the AX-15 is complete (minus the 5th counter gear) as well as the output shaft (minus the 5th gear).

Below is a visual of the AX-15 counter shaft (in the middle) after being removed next to the R151 counter shaft on the right.

 

After completing both the counter and output minus the 5th gear I remember the issue I notice when the new 5th gears came in. The R452 5th counter gear (33046-25030) is significantly different. The original AX-15 count 5th gear is on the left with the R452 on the right.

 

 

Left picture is AX-15 5th counter gear and the right is the R452 5th counter gear.

 

As you can see there is a major problem. So now I am trying to decide if its worth trying to figure this out or just install the AX-15 5th gears back on. The original gears from the AX-15 fit on the new R151 counter shaft with no issues and would still give me an overdrive gear from the current AX-4. So with the transmission on hold as I research possible options, I moved on to other projects underway or need starting. One of these projects was working on the relocation of the winch cable node cover sitting on the left side which protrudes greatly above the bumper when situated. I modeled up a cover at work that will protect the cables and reduce the overall height which is bring 3D printed.

 

 

Lastly meet up with the fellows building my new front bumper to no a fit check before the frame mounts get welded. I pulled up, there was a Comanche out front.

 

He apparently wanted rock sliders made out of some large rectangular tubes as well as eventually wanting to put 40" tyres on it.

 

 

That is the one side of the frame mount with most of the bolts tightened down.

The tape and vertical bar in the center was for measuring and layout how the removable brush guard was going to work. The outer square holes are going to be for fog lights with the inner lights going to flood lights to be used with the winch or off roading.

 

Well now you are caught up on where the Trailbreaker currently stands. Let me know if you have a questions, comments or see something that I have over looked.

[drcomanche]

Oh, hey, you saw Frankenstein out there. Nice to see some other Comanches in the area, I was about to leave a Comancheclub business card with them for you in case you weren't on here. So you're the lucky one getting that nice new bumper?

[Vakarian]

Hey drcomanche!

 

I sure am the lucky one getting the nice new bumper they are working on. While they were discussing I wonder over and was taking a look at your truck. For the bumper, the lower portion is now pretty much complete just have to more fit / clearance checks for the removable brush guard.

[drcomanche]

It looks really good so far. Very well thought out. Almost makes me want a new front bumper.

[Vakarian]

Hope everyone had a great weekend. More progress updates.

 

So the front bumper is complete but first more progress pictures.

 

The front flares were a bit of a pain to get off since they still had the temporary hardware used to hold them up during assembly. Only broke three (3) or four (4) studs, but you can see that the plastic wheel well lining has been cracked to hell. So they have been removed for now and new plastic or metal once have been added to the need list.

 

 

The original plan was to have the entire brush guard be removable, but to simply the design and ensure overall strength only the light sections can be removed.

 

Now the final install, well 95% installed bumper. Still have to finish the relocation of the vacuum canister, install the license mounting plate, and some fender stiffener plates. The fenders got trimmed for the bumper and the fabricators made some plates to pick up existing holes in the frame and attach to the folded bottom edge of the trimmed fenders.

 

 

 

On ‎4‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 4:10 PM, drcomanche said:

It looks really good so far. Very well thought out. Almost makes me want a new front bumper.

 

First off, I apologize for the delayed response drcomanche. I didn't receive a notification of the reply. Thank you for the complement on the design. The fabricators took my initial paper concept and we worked together to make this.

 

Now to wiring in the fog, winch, and winch lights before saving up to get a rear bumper fabricated. Also, just realized the horn needs to be moved upward about an inch to sit inside the bumper

 

Until next time!

[drcomanche]

It's all good. I have some some extra wheel well plastic liners if you'd like them. Took them off of Frankenstein and don't need them anymore. I also have some of the metal retainers, I think, but I did see on facebook that the fab guys hand made a few, so they may have that settled.

[Vakarian]

On ‎6‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 5:53 PM, drcomanche said:

I have some extra wheel well plastic liners if you'd like them. Took them off of Frankenstein and don't need them anymore.

 

Yeah I would definitely like to take those plastic liners off your hand if you don't mind. I would greatly appreciate that. Yeah they got the support brackets and the horns moved up underneath the bumper now. Don't have to worry about hitting those. Are you going to Budd's Creek this weekend? I could pick them up there from you if are. If not, you are local so we can figure something out.

[Vakarian]

Hello ComancheClub,

 

SO I had a little fun this weekend after figuring out the CAD system was not working. I just took it apart, slide the fork over and capped the two vacuum ports. Worked great and once the front axle is worked on it be removed. Well I got to hill on the motocross track at a local off road event and with the stock gears in the truck made a bit of smoke. I blew the radiator cap completely off and was eventually found wedge beside the steering box. So the cap no longer locks to the radiator. Below is an action shot of my truck this weekend on the hill that caused the radiator issue.

 

 

 

Besides that exciting adventure, I went to a local junkyard in search of some Cherokee parts and came across this beauty sitting out front in the parking lot.

 

Talked to the owner of the junkyard and said the whole truck was for sale! The truck is in better condition with no rust anywhere. Still going to pull the carpet and check regardless. Went back Monday with a trailer and after a jump, the truck was driven onto the trailer.

 

 

They said the synchronizers in the transmission where going and it was hard to shift resulting in the owner selling it to them. Added some fluid to the clutch reservoir and it tightened up with no issue shifting. The only issues I could find were a dead battery, instrumentation cluster not working, a few bulbs out and flat tires that have a rounded key for the lug nut locks. This truck is going to be my 2wd daily driver for cruising around town.

 

The plan is to swap the bucket seats over to the trail/camping ridge and put the bench seat in the daily driver. My girlfriend likes to sit in the middle of it when we drive around locally and the bucket seats will allow her to drive if need be out on a trip since they slide closer to the pedals.

[drcomanche]

On 6/15/2018 at 4:13 PM, Vakarian said:

 

Yeah I would definitely like to take those plastic liners off your hand if you don't mind. I would greatly appreciate that. Yeah they got the support brackets and the horns moved up underneath the bumper now. Don't have to worry about hitting those. Are you going to Budd's Creek this weekend? I could pick them up there from you if are. If not, you are local so we can figure something out.

Sure, I can pass them off to you whenever or wherever. And, obviously, I wasn't at Budd's Creek. Truck was just on the cusp of being done. Next year though.