IndianWILL's 1989 Comanche

[IndianWILL]

I've always been a Jeep guy.  This is probably the 12th or so Jeep vehicle I have owned (2 others currently).  Finally got my hands on a Comanche in decent shape with the setup I wanted; 4x4 4.0L manual transmission short bed.  Like just about any older vehicle it has it's share of problems I will address (will cover in this thread), but overall I am pretty impressed with what I have to start with.  Here are some baseline pictures of the day I brought her home.

 

 

 

 

[Dzimm]

Nice truck! Looks to have been really well taken care of. What plans do you have for it? What other Jeeps do you have?

[IndianWILL]

Nice truck! Looks to have been really well taken care of. What plans do you have for it? What other Jeeps do you have?

Thanks.  Mostly the plans are to get everything complete and working correctly so it is a nice daily driver for now.  I have my wife in a 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland, and I have my daughter in a 1994 Cherokee two door.  The Ram in the background of my pictures is my company truck, which is why I needed this Comanche for my personal vehicle.

[IndianWILL]

Issue #1; Nice winch bumper installed, along with cut out fender flares, but the fenders were never trimmed, so they hang down below everything else.

 

 

So, relocated the vacuum reservoir (passenger side) and horn (drivers side), removed the lower fender brackets, and cut/bent the front fender tips to clean up the front end tremendously.

 

[IndianWILL]

Another picture after the fenders trimmed (and a little better quality now that I am figuring out how to get pictures on here properly).

 

[IndianWILL]

Exterior was done in spray on bedliner, olive drab over the whole body, black in the bed.

Interior is pretty complete, just need a passenger side kick plate.  One small tear on the side of the bench seat, otherwise everything is in great shape.

Would like to upgrade the gauge package, but not a big deal. 

Wheels and tires are almost brand new, so I will just run them for now. 

Fender flares are also almost new, and I like them, especially out here on the dirt roads.

Front bumper is the Affordable Offroad winch bumper... I just need to find a winch for it.

Rear bumper is a new black stock style bumper.

[IndianWILL]

Issue #2 (not in importance, but in ease of working on things while I wait for other parts); NO CUPHOLDERS!!!

 

How is one expected to drive around with nowhere to put your beverage of choice?  So, I grabbed some scrap wood, a couple plastic drop in cup holders from a previous vehicle's custom built center console, a few screws, and some spray paint (flat brown primer was the closest I had in the cabinet to the burgundy interior).  Problem solved.

 

 

Installed:

[DirtyComanche]

Nice looking truck. :waving:

[kansashogan]

Dang, we all wish we would have had such a good starting point. Looking forward to more.

[Jeep Driver]

Yeah, nice truck. 

 

You can push that rear axle back, I did mine, that kind of thing drives me nuts.

[IndianWILL]

Issue #3:  Airbox.  I have never had a problem with the way Jeep does the airbox from the factory, but a previous owner apparently thought that drilling holes in the airbox would improve airflow.  Well, yeah, but probably not a good idea to drill those holes after the air filter...  :doh:

My fix will follow, but have to head out of town for a few days for work.

 

[IndianWILL]

Got back home last night, and got to work this afternoon addressing a few more issues on the MJ. 

On the air intake, I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but after the mutilation of the stock airbox, needed to do something different.  Went with one of the cheap kits off ebay for now.  Modified all the vacuum lines for everything to work properly, and blocked off the hot air intake line. Still need to build an air box/divider to keep some of the hot engine heat out, but at least it is better than what was there.

 

[IndianWILL]

Issue #4; Blower only goes through the defroster.  Age old vacuum line problem... searched the vacuum lines, found the split in the vacuum line, patched it up, and verified vent selector works as designed.  Easy fix.

 

Issue #5; Rear view mirror sitting on the floor.  Another easy fix; picked up some rear view mirror adhesive, cleaned everything up good, and reinstalled.  Rear visibility restored.

[IndianWILL]

Issue #6; We have a gas leak.  It was obvious from day one, and time to address it.  First leak was fairly easy to find.  Drive around for a while, climb underneath, and see this;

 

 

Alright, but that wasn't the only place.  Take a look at this picture, and see if you notice anything about the bolt in the center of the picture;

 

 

That's right, it is directly above the gas tank, which is only about half an inch below the floor of the bed.  So, at some point, someone attempted to bolt something down in the bed, failing to check what was below, and then just left the bolt sort of blocking the hole, never actually sealing it.  So I pulled it out and sealed the hole so gas won't slosh out any more.

[IndianWILL]

Issue #7: Broken side mirrors. 

Adjustments don't work from the inside levers, and mirrors flop all over while driving, making visibility near zero out of them.  Ordered a new pair, and set off to install, which requires taking the inside door panels off;

 

 

 

And the new mirrors work great, manual only, nice and clean, but most important, functional.

 

[IndianWILL]

Issue #8:  No key for the door locks.

This one made sense to address while I had the door apart already.  When I bought the truck, it came with one key.  I had spares made, but they only work on the ignition, no key for the doors.  So, I set out to fix it the easiest way possible, rekeying the existing cylinders to work with the ignition key.  This is a straightforward fix, requiring only a flashlight, a pair of pliers (I used needle nose), a small flat blade screwdriver, and a bench grinder or file.  Removed the lock cylinder, which is the hardest part of the job.  It requires reaching through the inside of the door, over to the back of the lock cylinder, and removing a flat retaining clip that holds the lock cylinder in - this is where the flashlight and pliers come in.  There is a small tab to get a hold of it, and you just pull it towards the front of the door.  Then follow the rod down to the door latch, unlock the plastic retaining clip for it (rotates around the end of the rod), and get the rod loose, then pull the cylinder and rod assembly out from the outside of the door.  It is a complete bear to do, as you have to feel your way around.  You can't see the retaining clip or rod at all, so also hard to post pictures of what to do.  Here's the assembly you get out though;

 

 

 

Once you have that out, take the rod and lever off the end of the cylinder, which is held on with an E clip.  Then use your flat blade screwdriver to gently pry the outer chrome ring off.  It is a very thin piece, so take your time getting it off knowing you will have to crimp it back on.  Once the outer chrome ring is off, set it and the spring loaded key door to the side, and you can begin work on the cylinder itself.  Put the ignition key in, and you have this;

 

 

 

The all you have to do is make each pin flush, top and bottom.  I used my bench grinder, followed by the wire wheel to clean everything up, and ended up with this;

 

 

 

While it's apart, take the time clean and lubricate so it operates smoothly.  Then just put everything back together in reverse order, and the ignition key now works in the doors as well.

[IndianWILL]

Not really an issue, but while I had the door apart to change the side mirrors and re-key the lock cylinders, I ran over to Wally World and picked up some cheap Sony 5.25" speakers to replace the 28 year old stock speakers.  I bought the truck with a decent Pioneer head unit already installed, so might as well invest the extra $30 for some sound upgrade.  Exact replacement fit, not modifications required, except for the wiring plugs.